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Emerald City
Emerald City is the largest settlement in its area and a central hub for trade in not only Seattle but Cascadia on a whole. Founded by vault dwellers who fled the automated oppression of Vault 72, Emerald City has sustained steady growth for close to sixty years, forgoing isolation to instead welcome immigration from the wasteland. The Treaty of Capitol Hill was formulated by the inhabitants of Emerald City, and they benefit the most from the treaty currently. History Emergence Emerald City’s history is inescapably intertwined with Vault 72, even before the big opening in 2221. Vault 72's leader, the Overseer Intelligence, first opened the vault in 2178 and established a small outpost outside the vault door. Cautious or Callous Welcome to Emerald City! The Treaty of Capitol Hill Government The government of Emerald City is more heavy-handed than the other city-states in Seattle, and it is mostly controlled by the interests of the caravan houses and mercenaries. Emerald City elects its mayor democratically, but it is big money that controls who actually has a chance of running. The current mayor, Herschel Waley, was elected with the help of Lake Caravans, but he has proved rather unhelpful in furthering their agenda as of late. In their position, the mayor can wield expansive powers regarding the city whether it concerns taxation, law enforcement, ceremonial and representational functions, and to preside over meetings for the advancement of public welfare. The mayor has a small bureaucratic apparatus below him that is also important, with the most important one being the tax collector. Emerald City's tax collector has always been hated by the populace, but they are accepted as a necessary evil. Emerald City's present tax collector is an unremarkable man named Bravo who carries out his office with a quiet diligence. Law enforcement and defense are some other important parts of government in Emerald City. Emerald City's head of security right now, an appointed position, is Carson Nores, who is in the pockets of Jade. Nores is a lax enforcer of the law, but he has cemented his position by remaining close friends with the mayor. The security force in Emerald City is not well-equipped or well-trained, and it is generally regarded of something of a joke. The people in charge of defending Emerald City from external threats are thought of very differently, even though they are mercenaries. Deadhead Company, founded and led by Commander Draigh Cross, has defended Emerald City for close to ten years and have done a good job so far. Paid off by Emerald City's "tax dollars", Deadhead Company has been a topic of internal debate in the past. The members are mostly locals from Emerald City but often act in a brutal fashion antithetical to Emerald City’s “democratic” values. The mercenaries guard Emerald City's walls against the dangers of the wasteland and sometimes makes forays into Seattle if necessary. Within Emerald City, opinion on Deadhead Company is divided. Many residents of Emerald City dislike Deadhead Company for being mercenaries, but others like the mercs for being so effective and ‘badass’. Economy Emerald City's economy has remained rather stagnant in recent years, even though growth was promised from continued immigration into the settlement. Caps are made mostly through the two primary caravan houses, the Northwest Trading Company and Lake Caravans. Some light industry is also present in Emerald City, mostly independent businesses. Emerald City does very little agriculture and mostly imports its food supply. It makes up for this vulnerability by trading manufactured goods and acting as a trading hub. The residents of Emerald City are some of the biggest consumers of chems in Seattle. Despite the efforts of Thornists, chems are legal in Emerald City, and Jade has had complete control over the chem trade in recent years. That led to some complications but has not come to a head so far. Culture The culture of Emerald City is summed up by its inhabitants’ two favorite things: freedom and caps. The various freedoms the citizens of Emerald City now enjoy (freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of religion) are in large part the result of a backlash against the oppressive actions of the Overseer Intelligence in Vault 72. People are allowed to say what they think, even if what they say is innane bullshit. Due to these large numbers of freedoms, Emerald City is seen as rather boorish compared to Chinatown or even Capitol Hill. The laissez-faire attitude of many in Emerald City also extends to the economy, which is also unregulated. This has led to a culture of fierce competition for caps and a general callousness for the poor. The attitude of “let the poor starve” only intensified after wastelanders were let into Emerald City. The divide between wastelanders and the descendants of vault dwellers does still provides tension in Emerald City. The move to allow people into Emerald City was an unpopular one with hundreds of vault dwellers consciously isolating themselves for nearly a generation afte the move. Tension has gone down in recent time with election of Mayor Herschel, but descendants vault dwellers who want wastelanders out are still present in Emerald City. One individual’s influence on Emerald City has been quite considerable: Thornton. A vault dweller who was ghoulified and returned to Emerald City after years in the wasteland, Thornton was influence primarily by Thomas Hobbes and Ayn Rand to create his current ideology: Thornism. Thornism calls for reclaiming the wasteland, veneration of Western civilization, and authoritarian leadership to bring the world out of “the current Dark Age”. Although Thornton’s ideology is predictably controversial, he has maintained his position in Emerald City by advocating for non-violence (for the most part). Roughly a fifth of Emerald City are adherents to Thornton’s ideology, and they make up a considerable voting bloc when not voting for a Thornist candidate (who have never won a mayoral election). The Thornists’ ideology is reflected in their lives where they have traditional marriages, abstain from chems, and practice rational selfishness. Points of Interest Deadhead Compound The Deadhead Compound, housing the eponymous Deadhead Company, serves as both an arsenal and a headquarters for the toughest defenders of Emerald City. Located near the edge of Emerald City, the Deadhead Compound was little more than a well-preserved ruin before Commander Draigh Cross took it over to headquarter his new mercenary group. There, the soldiers of Deadhead Company eat, sleep, and store all they need within its walls. The building itself is a broken skyscraper that used to house law firms in Seattle. The Deadhead Compound is well-fortified, similarly to Thornton's Headquarters, with turrets and forcefields installed by the mercenaries, and it would be a hell of a battle to take the building by force. Death’s Needle Also known as the Miracle of Seattle and formerly as the Space Needle, Death Needle is the city's most famous landmark (pre-War and post-War). Many Seattle residents say Death’s Needle’s survival was by Divine Providence, but in reality, it was because the nuclear weapons used on Seattle were of rather poor quality. The Space Needle, designed by Edward E. Carlson and John Graham Jr. for the 1962 World's Fair, has graced Seattle skyline for more than three centuries and continues to do so today, now within the confines of Emerald City. Death’s Needle earned it current name in the years following the the Great War, when hundreds of people ascended the observation tower to throw themselves off in despair about the broken state of the world. People soon after stopped calling the tower the Space Needle and instead began referring to it as Death’s Needle. Before the establishment of Emerald City, Death’s Needle was considered haunted by many and only played host to the occasional raider sniper nest. However, the observation tower was taken over by Emerald City’s security forces after the city was founded and has served as an outpost ever since. The suicides have not stopped but have lessened since Emerald City was established. Mayor Herschel has considered installing a sort of net below the tower's top level to prevent the suicides but does not think Emerald City has the infrastructure to support such a project yet. Dick's Drive-In Dick's Drive-In is a pre-War restaurant that has been restored and given a post-War twist. Opened as a fast-food restaurant chain, Dick's Drive-In features fast-food staples such as hamburgers, hand-cut french fries, and individually made milkshakes. Dick's Drive-In was open right up to the day of the Great War and had recently installed experimental food dispensers. The owner hid inside the restaurant while bombs dropped and waited out later unpleasantness. The owner of Dick’s Drive-In, Pat Wallis, stayed there for the next half a century, surviving on remnants of his restaurant’s food and eventually marrying a wanderer to sire a family of his own. Ever since Pat, the Wallis family has jealously guarded Dick's Drive-In while also selling food to willing customers. The restaurant was already active when the vault dwellers emerged from Vault 72 and is currently in operation. Though the restaurant’s meat is bought from wasteland hunters or scavengers and some dishes on the menu have changed, Dick’s Drive-In’s spirit remains the same. Emerald City Church of the New Disciples Often referred to by the shortened ECC by churchgoers, Emerald City Church of the New Disciples is Emerald City's largest religious center and home to the the New Disciples' newest Bishop, Maxwell Teague. The New Disciples first made their way to Seattle in 2254 with the arrival of a small body of Disciple missionaries led by Pastor Smokes Johnston. Pastor Johnston first set up a congregation for evangelicals in Seattle's ruins, ministering to the wasteland, but he later moved to Emerald City and helped build ECC in 2261. Ever since then, ECC has served as Emerald City's largest church, dwarfing the smaller Catholic and Universalist churches in both size and membership. The church building itself is that of a traditional church with a few post-War twists. ECC has a steeple with a cross atop it, and the congregation has been searching for a bell in recent years. Pastor Johnston became Bishop Johnston soon after ECC was built, and when he died, Maxwell Teague from Portland came to take his place. Teague currently holds the position of Bishop and diligently ministers to his flock, also making himself a prominent member of the community. ECC is active politically, and its members often act as a bloc to push traditional values in Emerald City. That puts them in opposition to the current Mayor and broadly aligned with Thornton, who many in ECC are uncomfortable with. Free Oregon Radio Station Free Oregon Radio Station is Emerald City’s lone radio station but is rather disliked for its highly partisan tone with many preferring to listen in on Harry Peters's radio station. A pre-War radio station owned by GNN, the radio station was brought back to life in 2262 by Andrew Doukas. Doukas was an early Oregon partisan who saw NCR's actions during Operation: RED Trail and The Brushfire War as an act of war against the people of Cascadia. He came from the wilderness of Oregon to Seattle to try to win hearts in the fight against NCR. Fortunately enough for Doukas, he found a radio station to help broadcast his message to the wasteland. Doukas's radio station, named Free Oregon Radio Station, proved to be more popular outside Emerald City than within it, and he has kept the radio station open over the last twenty years through a combination of donations and advertisements. Due to quite a few people in Emerald City having affiliations with the NCR through some means, Free Oregon Radio Station has been controversial to say the least. Nevertheless, Doukas is able to retain the radio station as long as he pays his dues to Emerald City's government. Pine Inn Though its name may say 'inn', the Pine Inn mostly functions as a popular bar for the residents of Emerald City. The Pine Inn was founded soon after the opening of Vault 72 by a vault dweller named Leland Glover. The bar and Inn has switched hands several times since then, through both peaceful and violent means. However, some constants for Pine Inn have remained such as warm beds, a steady supply of alcohol, and an interesting collection of folks at the bar. The Rice Factory Founded by industrious chefs formerly of Chinatown, the Rice Factory is Emerald City's destination for post-War Asian cuisine. Owned and operated by the Cho Brothers, the Rice Factory produces a variety of different Asian foods from Japanese, Chinese, and Korean traditions while also giving things a wasteland flavor. That includes replacing cattle beef with Brahmin and chicken with iguana. The Rice Factory is located near the center of Emerald City, and it is a popular destination for people to just sit around and socialize. Tate's Medicine Tate's Medicine is a medical clinic in Emerald City run by Austen Tate, the settlement's most skilled (and beautiful) physician. The property used to be a den for jet fiends who were cleared out when Emerald City was founded, so Austen bought the place for cheap and fixed it up. A hole in the wall with a big sign near the Deadhead Compound, Tate's Medicine is a very busy place at most business hours and mostly caters to caters to caravaners and mercenaries, the people who get injured the most often. Austen Tate also lives out of her clinic and buys chems to keep herself supplied to her out of the back of the building. Thornton's Headquarters Formerly an office building, Thornton's Headquarters serves as both the HQ of the Northwest Trading Company and the personal fortress of its owner Thornton. Soon after he came to Emerald City with a modest sum of caps, Thornton bought the building and fixed it up to house his new business. What that business would be, Thornton did not know at the time. It became the headquarters for Thornton's various failed business throughout the 2220s and 2230s until he founded the Northwest Trading Company. That was when Thornton struck gold with the caravan business, and Thornton's Headquarters grew in tandem. More and more employees moved into Thornton's Headquarters, working to maintain Thornton's growing caravan empire. Vault 72 Vault 72 lies practically in the middle of Emerald City and sticks out like a sore thumb. The vault is the origin of the majority of Emerald City's population but is not remembered fondly. Built to both save humanity and keep them contained, Vault 72 was overseen by the Overseer Intelligence. The Overseer Intelligence, an autocratic Overseer computer, kept the vault dwellers on a tight leash and founded the small outpost that would become Emerald City to alleviate pressure within the vault after a small revolution. Vault 72 did eventually erupt in violence again though, and that turned out to be the extreme detriment of the Overseer Intelligence. Most of the vault dwellers escaped the grasp of the despotic machine, and with the help of a particularly industrious hacker, they trapped the Overseer Intelligence inside Vault 72. Now, the vault serves as a tomb for the supercomputer that oppressed many ancestors of people in Emerald City. Notable Individuals Austen Tate Austen Tate is a doctor, an amateur scientist, and a descendant of the vault dwellers who settled Emerald City. Armed with an Auto-Doc and a sunny disposition, Austen hopes to do some good in the wasteland but has no illusions about how harsh her world can be. She has lived in Emerald City all her life and still lives there. Austen Tate spends most of her time at her business, Tate's Medicine, and she often eats out at The Rice Factory, her favorite restaurant, to meet caravaners and people from out of town. A quite amicable person, Austen Tate is seemingly friends with just about everyone in Emerald City. She is something of a social butterfly though and tends to not spend too much time on any one person. The one person Austen has spent a substantial amount of time with is Alana, the owner of a local clothing shop and the wife of Oscar Butcher. People have often wondered why Austen, beautiful young woman that she is, has not settled down yet, but there is a good reason for that. Over time as Emerald City's doctor and after witnessing numerous tragedies, Austen came to the conclusion, "Life is short, we're all gonna die and you can't stop it forever... so why not make each others' lives worthwhile and enjoyable? The only thing that matters is letting people know that you care about them, because whatever someone is, has, or can do doesn't mean a damned thing in the end." Austen knows how horrible the world can be, and she has decided to stick to being kind while not getting overly attached to anyone. That has served her well so far, though there may be some problems looming on the horizon. Commander Draigh Cross Commander Draigh Cross is the leader of the mercenary Deadhead Company and one of the primary protectors of Emerald City. A mercenary through and through, Commander Cross has a penchant for brutality and a very high opinion of his own abilities. In other words, he's something of an asshole. Nevertheless, he, his power armor, and his mercenary compatriots have protected Emerald City for close to a decade now, and they have admittedly done a damn good job so far. He is not liked by most but instead feared or respected by many. As a teenager, Draigh Cross first came to Emerald City only to wander the wasteland. He returned years later with his mercenary company, being hired to help defend his home soon afterwards. Commander Cross is particularly renowned for his defense of Emerald City in 2284 against Badlanders and in 2285 against some raiders from King's Council. He is a frequent visitor to Thornton’s Headquarters, The Rice Factory, and Dick’s Drive-In when he's not at Deadhead Compound. Seen as something of a bastard, Cross has a reputation for being unpleasant to people in Emerald City and as well as being a coarse vulgar person. He is also seen as being overly prideful in his attitude towards his power armor, something he recovered from the wasteland and has customized extensively. His reputation for being a boor is well-earned, but that is not all Cross is. He cares deeply about his men and shows it constantly, taking a deep personal interest in their welfare and always trying to ultimately keep them out of harm's way. That means Cross is friends with all the men in Deadhead Company, including Oscar Butcher, but has few other friends, including Thornton (on his good days). Mayor Waley has a love-hate relationship with Cross, and both Nemesis Lake and Cross loathe each other. Commander Cross is also a very devout man (at least on the weekends) and regularly attends services at the Emerald City Church of the New Disciples. Enjoying the good things in life such as alcohol, chems, and women, Commander Cross is a no-strings kind of guy regarding romance. He swears liberally but tries not to overdo it. Mayor Herschel Waley Mayor Hershel Waley is the elected leader of Emerald City, the first not to be descended from those who emerged from Vault 72. Contrary to the view of many, Hershel is not overly attached to his category as an outsider, and he usually strikes more of a conciliatory role between the two groups in the town. However, Hershel is more attached to his family’s own traditions, being known to be a family man and a someone with principles. That partially hides his ability to network people and politic, things Herschel is quite effective at. He was born in 2245 to Lieber Waley, the controversial activist who advocated for a total end to Emerald City's xenophobia towards outsiders. Hershel was raised largely without the supervision of activist father and instead was looked after by his very traditional and overbearing mother Rebecca. Even though he was raised by two very strong personalities, Herschel never really developed many strong opinions of his own in his younger days. He remained mostly apathetic to politics and preferred to just smoke Geiger-made cannabis with his friends. Not even his own Bar Mitzvah aroused any strong feelings from Herschel. However, tragedy struck the Waley household soon after his sixteenth birthday with his father’s assassination at the hands of bounty hunters. After that incident, Herschel decided to finally take control of his life and do something important: bring justice to his father’s killers. Herschel did not even care about his father’s politics, he just wanted justice. The process of reaching justice was a long and arduous one that eventually sent Herschel into politics and ended with him in the mayor’s chair after campaigning on a “law and order” platform with the backing of Lake Caravans. Having taken his revenge, however, Herschel is not as driven as he was before. Nevetheless, Mayor Herschel carries out his office effectively and remains relatively popular within Emerald City. The mayor has recently campaigned to allow peaceful super mutants to enter Emerald City though, which led to a dip in his popularity. A flexible but moral man, Herschel Waley does what he sees right in the eyes of the people of Emerald City while also staying true to himself. He has a good eye for appointing skilled people to appropriate positions (with the exception of Carson Nores). Mayor Waley has many friends and does not discriminate politically (with the exception of Thornton and his followers). His fiancé Lauren is his best friend followed closely by Carson Nores, a close family friend (and a puppet loyal to Jade). The mayor also has an amiable relationship with Austen Tate. His connections to both Nemesis Lake and Draigh Cross are both rather strained though workable. Thornton is seen as “the enemy” and a threat to Emerald City on a whole by Herschel. Herschel has internalized his parents’ lessons and often quotes their old sayings to his helpers, often confusing them. Having no biases against any one group, Herschel judges people on a case-by-case basis which gives him an advantage over many others in Emerald City who cannot look past their own grudges. Mayor Waley is forward-thinking and progressive, and he is, in the end, a nice person. Manila 'Gentle Heart' Mollor Manila ‘Gentle Heart’ Mollor is an independent mercenary who grew up in Emerald City, led to wander as far as the Colorado, and later returned home. The ‘Gentle Heart’ projects a hardass image with a suave personality, but this hides a deeper trauma that has been eating away at her for years. Manila may have learned how to fight in the wastes, but she lost something important in exchange for that experience. She tries to remain sociable though and is often seen in public, talking about her experiences and current events in Seattle as if nothing is wrong. Born in 2257, Manila Mollor was born to the prestigious Mollor Family who were highly influential water merchants in Emerald City. Manila grew up spoiled and often heard about stories of heroic vault dwellers from Vault 72 exploring the wasteland. Those stories fascinated Manila, and as soon as she was able, Manila left Emerald City for the wasteland. Manila’s wanderings took her East, and she explored as far as Hoover Dam at one point. That should have left Manila with experiences that she would remember well, but in the end, Manila ultimately wished she never left Seattle. Manila’s experiences in the wasteland left her scarred and broken, more or less. Her naïveté and innocence were gone. Manila ‘Gentle Heart’ Mollor returned to Emerald City in 2281 as a mercenary, and she has stayed there ever since. Often defending Emerald City’s walls, escorting caravans, or rescuing hostages, Manila has a mixed record in regards to her success record. People still hire her though, and she often hangs out at Thornton’s Headquarters to look for new jobs. An experienced mercenary, Manila has been places and will not hesitate to tell people about it. She has a great degree of unearned pride and holds herself in high regard even though she is not much of a mercenary in reality. Her actual combat experience is overblown and her past in overshadowed by something Manila can never quite shrug off. Whether she can ever truly get beyond her past life is to be seen. Marko Bilobrk The scion of a prominent family from when Vault 72 was still inhabited, Marko Bilobrk is a grizzled former caravan guard for the Northwest Trading Company of Croatian heritage who now acts as Thornton’s lieutenant. Marko has lost a lot in his life, and he has a rather apathetic or sometimes even nihilistic view of the world. He is a close friend of Thornton, who is rather amused by Marko’s vaguely philosophical ramblings. Marko was born around 2226 to the Bilobrk family, an old prominent family of Croatian descent who emerged from Vault 72. Marko Bilobrk grew up in the shadow of Death's Needle as both his family and Emerald City struggled to survive. He was raised Catholic by his parents, who were poor but proud. As soon as he came of age, Marko decided to leave Emerald City. He became a caravan guard with the Northwest Trading Company. Marko was a caravan guard for nearly thirty years, only coming back to Emerald City for short increments. This was the case even when Marko’s parents died nearly ten years apart. He just never saw the point of it. That and other factors led to Marko becoming increasingly isolated, both in the familial and romantic sense. Better at shooting a gun than talking to women, Marko has lived his life in a state of involuntary celibacy. That gave him an attitude of misanthropy, which entertained his employer Thornton. This led to Marko and Thornton becoming friends of sorts, with Marko becoming the caravan house manager’s lieutenant in the Northwest Trading Company. Currently, Marko Bilobrk lives a solitary life in Emerald City working for Thornton. He could buy a prostitute, but he does not, as he sees no point to it. Marko Bilobrk is a lonely bitter man who hates the world and himself. He has little will to live and as Thornton always comments, he has no idea why he hasn’t offed himself yet. Marko is very attentive to his job, as work is one of the few things that gives his life meaning. He takes solace in the small simple pleasures of life, such as enjoying good food and reading books. Marko thinks of himself as something of an intellectual, though his pride is not something that is really valuable to him. He seems just fine with being a whipping boy for Thornton, who frequently insults him and demeans his sexual prowess as “even a ghoul like him could get some steamed clam”. Nemesis Lake A descendant of dissidents from within Vault 72, Nemesis Lake is the leader of Lake Caravans and an individual still full of hope for the post-War world. Nemesis, a feminist and a lesbian, has a very dualistic view of the world with one group (herself being included) on the side of progress while the other group is on the side of repeating the same mistakes that caused the bombs to drop. Generally a very nice person, Nemesis is only really disagreeable when politics get involved and runs a relatively charitable caravan house, at least compared to her competitors. Nemesis Lake was born in 2239 to older parents in Emerald City. The Lake family came from a long line of dissidents who had lived in Vault 72, and they had close connections to the Bilobrk family. Nemesis’s father in particular had been part of the vault dwellers who had made the mad rush out of Vault 72 when the Overseer Intelligence finally went insane. Nemesis Lake was friends with Marko Bilobrk as children, but the two drifted apart as they progressively grew older. Nemesis grew closer to her other friends as time went on, mostly other women of a certain "enlightened" variety. In her teenage years while she was getting her education, Nemesis fell in with a group of activists fighting for equal rights for wastelanders in Emerald City. Her idol was the activist Lieber Waley who she witnessed get assassinated by bounty hunters. That, the daily injustices Nemesis saw against wastelanders, and the street addresses of Thornton further motivated her towards social justice. That was until her education ended, and Nemesis was forced into the real world. Deciding that Emerald City was too much of bigoted hellhole to stay, Nemesis went to Capitol Hill and joined up with the Geigers. The Geigers, annoying as they may be, accepted Nemesis, taught her many new things, and let her join up with one of her caravans. The experience Nemesis gained with the Geigers prepared her to found her own caravan, Lake Caravans, in 2265. Nemesis Lake made some pretty caps even though her initial efforts were met with little success. She had many 'adventures' across Cascadia in the 2260s and made much of her fortune then while the Northwestern Alliance fought the New California Republic. In 2272, Nemesis finally returned to Seattle and Emerald City to establish a headquarters for Lake Caravans there. This was after hearing her parents had both died. She was surprised to find that wastelanders were now accepted but also shocked to find Thornton and his ideology even more readily accepted. Ever since her arrival back in Emerald City, Nemesis has worked as a balance to Thornton's "crypto-fascism". Nemesis has little separation between her public and personal life with few friends or familial ties. She attempts to act as a constant advocate for the advancement of the disadvantaged and tries to never let up on her message. That has made Nemesis numerous enemies over the years, but that is a small price to pay for her cause. The woman Nemesis Lake is less important than the figure, at least in her own mind. Her pet causes are God to her, and everything else is secondary. Her emotions are largely superficial with a small core of sincerity. She is an individual full of hope for the future but also full of misery regarding the present. Nemesis has connections with people all over Seattle due to her caravan house but not friends. Her biggest locals allies are Mayor Waley, head of security Nores, and fellow caravan manager Shuang Brown. A love-life is out of the question for Nemesis, and she only has the occasional sleeping partner. Her last partner was an ex-Badlander named Soft Shell who currently lives in a boat floating around Puget Sound. Nemesis was too focused on her cause to form a real connection with another human being. Really, Nemesis’s closest relationship is her adversarial rope opposite to Thornton. Though Thornton is relatively less powerful than many of Nemesis’s other conservative opponents in Emerald City, he is the only one with a fully formed ideology and following diametrically opposed to her. Nemesis hates Thornton and his Thornists like nothing else and expresses this sentiment whenever possible. Oscar Butcher Oscar Butcher is a low-ranking mercenary within Deadhead Company, and he is one of the people who protects Emerald City on a daily basis. Oscar has quite a few opinions on things, being a devout Christian and a staunch traditionalist, but he prefers to keep his mouth shut most of the time, never being too outspoken. Oscar has an enormous amount of respect for authority as drilled into his head by his now dead father who frequently appears in his nightmares. For a mercenary, Oscar is a relatively well-respected member of society in Emerald City and has a rather large social circle, aided by his lovely new wife Alana. A native of Emerald City, Oscar Butcher was born to vault dweller parents who often told him stories about Vault 72 and the Overseer Intelligence. They also told Oscar Bible stories before he went to bed, as well as war stories against the New Order. Oscar internalized the stories more than his brothers and sisters, never forgetting them. The teenage years for Oscar were awkward, but he did snag a sweetheart who he later married, Alana. Oscar later joined Deadhead Company and became an effective mercenary. His polite demeanor, traditional values, and emotional stability led to him being well-liked by many in Emerald City despite his status as a mercenary. Currently, Oscar is a well-respected member of the community who mostly keeps his thoughts and desires to himself. His sympathies to Thornism in particular is something Oscar keeps a closely-guarded secret. Oscar thinks of himself as a family man who stands for his own code of conduct, mostly being governed by religion and tradition. However, he holds such a high standard of himself that he cannot fulfill his own expectations. That is why he is currently having an affair with Austen Tate, his wife’s best friend. Oscar feels very guilty about his affair but does not have the heart to stop. What Oscar doesn't know is that his wife knows about the affair and approves. He wants to have children soon, and he soon wants to start, though his affair will no doubt complicate things. Synixera White Synixera White is a restaurant owner of Pine Inn, and she is an all around unpleasant person. Descended from vault dwellers, Synixera is one of precious few people in Emerald City who still hold some form of bigotry towards wasteland west . She may make good food, but Synixera is an entirely too paranoid person, worried constantly about radiation and unclean wastelanders. She has been forced to deal with more and more wastelanders in recent years, which has defrosted her somewhat. Synixera also has some rather amoral business practices, as more caps are good for her. Born in 2258 to poor parents, Synixera White was a third generation inhabitant of Emerald City and the granddaughter of vault dwellers. Synixera grew up with barely a cap to rub together, and she remembered the toils of poverty for the rest of her life. Also, Synixera experienced traumatic abuse from her parents. This consisted of physical abuse from her father and verbal abuse from her mother. Synixera took this abuse as best as she could but internalized it as time went on. That turned into a vitriolic hatred of her parents and the people they associated with aka the poor wastelanders who lived near them. As soon as she was able, Synixera moved out of her house to live in even more dire squalor. However, that still meant getting away from her monstrous parents. From then on, Synixera climbed the social ladder of Emerald City rapidly as she was a hard worker and very conscientious (if the situation did not involve her personal biases). Eventually around 2279, Synixera found her way to Pine Inn as a cook. The death of Pine’s Inn’s owner Mr. Serkis in 2283 left the Inn without an owner, and to everyone’s surprise, the business was willed to Synixera. Mr. Serkis has admired Synixera from afar and wanted to do something for her, even if it meant he was dead already. Since then, Synixera has run a tight ship in Pine Inn and made th business even more successful. This does mean dealing with filthy wastelanders, but Synixera will bear it, as long they maintain a certain distance. Synixera’s personality is very visibly defensive individual, often getting in arguments and aggressive discussion. Her bigotry towards wastelanders is not often shown publicly, but it is always present in some form or another. Her food and bedding make up for her personality in the eyes of many of her customers. That is without the knowledge Synixera has secretly been putting pre-War additives into a lot of her food, uncaring about the potential consequences. Thornton 250px Thornton is the head of the Northwest Trading Company, the biggest single caravan house in Seattle. A post-War ghoul who mutated after escaping from Vault 72, Thornton lived a rough life out in the Wastes, which, combined with reading Leviathan, gave him a rather Hobbesian view on life. Thornton came to Emerald City soon after its founding with a clear vision for its future: a strong expansionist authoritarian state with himself at the helm. This goal has guided Thornton’s actions ever since his arrival in Emerald City, and he is inching closer every year. Unfortunately for Thornton, his lack of compassion and pettiness has held him back and made a shifting cast of people oppose him over the years. Nevertheless, Thornton and his Thornist philosophy are continuing to advance in Emerald City at a slow but steady rate. The story of Thornton really began around 2195 when he escaped from the surface outpost of Vault 72. Thornton was a young vault dweller who grew up in the shadow of the Centennial Revolution and feared the violent Overseer Intelligence. He wanted to escape this oppressive atmosphere into the wasteland, where there was some modicum of freedom. Thornton found his freedom, at a price. The wasteland of Seattle in the 2190s was a chaotic unforgiving place with numerous dangers and few safe places. Thornton learned of the wastes’ violent nature quite quickly and struggled to adapt. Nevertheless, Thornton eventually did, learning to live on the edge as a scavenger with his Pip-Boy serving him well. He lived alone but had a solid life. That was, until a couple of raiders from King’s Council and some New Order footsoldiers clashes right outside Thornton’s scavver den and destroyed it. The footsoldiers emerged victorious in the end and, amused by his helplessness, stuck Thornton into a barrel full of pre-War radioactive waste before rolling him down a hill. Thornton survived the experience disfigured but with a strong resolve to finally try to fix the wasteland’s perpetual state of anarchy. Quotes By About Category:Places Category:Communities Category:Cascadia